July 2023

"Really don't know where to start with this. I have never considered myself a gardener so this is all new to me. In fact up until recently what I had was a miniature jungle full of weeds and 'junk' that I intended to turn into garden projects one day soon (insert my mother rolling her eyes at me here lol).

The Daisy Garland Green Shoots project came along and even though I didn't actually sign up initially - knowing myself well enough to know it would be another good intentions but no follow through thing - i was really enjoying watching everyone else's progress in the Café.  [Daisy's Keto Cafe is an online parent support group for families whose children with complex epilepsy are following the ketogenic diet.]

I think the thing that set me off was something that came up during a Daisy Garland Mindfulness session.  Sara [Daisy Garland CEO and Founder] mentioned how the Green Shoots project was complimentary to the Mindfulness programme. During the session she recommended a book, The Well Gardened Mind - a fantastic book I'm still SLOWLY making my way through - she also mentioned that gardeners have a greater range of beneficial gut bacteria.  Something just clicked in me that here is something I can do to help improve the health once again of my son, Spud.   Weaning the [ketogenic] diet had left me feeling a bit like we were back to relying on meds alone, so feeling like I could be pro-active once again was incredibly motivating.

So my week off work hit, the weather was nice, I was feeling motivated, TDG had sent me some seeds to plant and a mere 6 years after moving in I finally managed to start my gardening project. The garden planters i had bought years ago finally got painted up, the astro turf I'd completely forgotten was in the shed was rediscovered and laid and I actually managed to plant some seeds.

That was the start of June, i dont think there has been a day since where I haven't been in the garden at least twice a day. It's become my space, somehow when I'm doing all the little tasks out there it just seems to absorb me, it quietens the noise in my head and I become unintentionally mindful.

Of course as an absolute beginner gardener nothing I had pictured has worked out the way I thought it would and I'm absolutely fine with that, im learning something new each day, Acers as it turns out are not a fan of full sun and will drop all their leaves in protest at the lack of shade.   Courgettes (see below) really do need more space than you think and do not like to be moved once planted.  Potatoes take at least 100 days to grow and require a lot of patience.  Slugs will eat anything you're growing and your neighbours really don't appreciate when you give them flying lessons etc...

All of which is to say that I've found that gardening, much like the mindfulness, is not so much a before and after project as it is a work in progress.   And while both projects will never be completed it's not about getting to the end its about growing (I'm sorry I went much to corny there!)

Tomorrow I will be cooking the very first vegetable I've grown myself for lunch - whether I get to eat any before Spud steals it all is debatable, but i know he will be eating something I've grown and nurtured myself.   Its fresh from the garden, has no pesticides on it and if he eats more like that it may even help keep him just that little bit healthier.

I'm hopeful by next year I will have managed to get a raised bed for the garden so i can grow a lot more in the space and encourage Spud to join me out there.   So far he's only interested in the part that involves eating, but you never know, one day I may get him out there.  In the meantime, I'm just going to keep on growing :)

In April 2024, Kay tragically lost her son, Spud, to epilepsy.  Spud was 21 years old.  Spending time in nature with Tilly her dog at her side is helping Kay through the grieving process.  Kay has some lovely plans for her garden this year, which she shares with us below...

APRIL 2025

So, I'm having a get stuff done day, have tackled the back garden back from its jungle status and have made a start on filling the probably very overly ambitious garden bed I bought.

The dogs have been having a great time in the sun all afternoon, Coco (my neighbour's dog) was very keen to help dig and water, Tilly is more the sunbathing type these days.

I found some seeds in one of your envelopes that I clearly put away for the summer - do you know what they are?

Daisy Garland reply:  Kay, the picture below is of wisteria pods with flat broad bean-like seeds inside. It's great you've potted them up and we look forward to the pictures!

I have potted them up for now and they along with some garlic are in my mini greenhouse but if I know what they are it may give me an idea on how I'm supposed to be planting them, I've just put in a pot with some soil and water for now and hoping for the best, which is pretty much how all my gardening needs are done if I'm honest. 

I shall be collecting more sticks and things on my dog walk to help fill the base of my giant planter. I did collect some over winter but greatly underestimated how many I would need, this will give me an excuse to get outside a bit hopefully...  

Here's how my finished planted might look 🤞

April 26th...

So the raised bed is set up to go now.  Have underestimated how much soil it requires, but I'm hoping it's good enough for this year and once I start adding plants and things it will fill up a bit more. Have managed to combine 2 major gardening projects, so that the bush we pulled down from the front garden is mainly what we used to fill the raised planter in the back garden in a hugelkulture style.  I may not have done it correctly but it's a 'learning on the job' type project so I guess we will see what happens.

My Daisy fig tree has started to bud now which is a relief as I was a bit frightened it wouldn't make it through the winter outdoors. 

My fruit tree also looks to be doing well, although I forgot to label it so I'm not quite sure if it's an apple or a pear tree, hopefully it will fruit eventually and I shall have a nice surprise either way. 

I have a few stragglers from last year which I apparently missed and they appear to have thrived on neglect so have the start of some summer cabbage already.  I may have to invest in some netting to keep the butterflies off it this year as last year a lot of what I did manage to grow became food for the wildlife!

May 22nd...

"Little garden update. The plants in the raised bed are really starting to grow, I'm sure I should possibly be thinning some things out, but the joy of my chaos bed method is I've no idea what a lot of the things coming through are or what they need.  Maybe next year I shall try the organised version of this gardening thing .

In the meantime I have added a few extra seeds in the bare patches, as it turns out a lot of my seeds are slightly old some dating all the way back to 2016, so I just keep adding in more seasonally appropriate seeds where I find gaps and hoping for the best from them. 

The seeds that made it into the greenhouse have had variable rates of success.  So far I appear to have some cucumbers, courgettes, sunflowers and 1 very small sprout seedling. 

Since my last message I have worked out that my fruit tree is in fact a pear tree. It actually has the beginning of fruit on it for the first time ever, which is very exciting.

The Daisy Garland Bug Hotel is looking as if it's getting a lot of use, not sure if the cobwebs are showing in pics but it certainly looks like a very busy hotel to me!

My potato patches are doing quite well, 1 of them was deliberately planted the others are surprise potatoes that appear to have self seeded in last year's bed. 

I keep finding myself pottering about in the garden. There's something very soothing about being out there and seeing the progress being made each day... xx"

May 31st...

"Have moved my courgettes, sunflowers and cucumbers from the green house into their permanent pots. I've read that sheep's wool deters slugs so have added a wool collar to each plant to see if that helps keep them safe.

This, along with my evening routine of slug and snail murder, should hopefully give them a fighting chance (all snails and slugs are given to the birdies as I'm trying to keep my gardening as nature-friendly as possible.  Am hoping if the birds realise there's regular food here they will take over my murderous tasks for me!

A slight unseen complication of the sheep's wool is Miss Tilly seems to think the wool is extra tasty and keeps trying to munch it, so whilst it may deter slugs it does seem to attract doggies. I've yet to determine if it might also be stolen by the birdies for nesting material and be counter productive in that way, but as with the rest of the garden we shall see what happens.

I've also added an extra Lavender plant to my collection.

I'm hoping to eventually have enough Lavender to be able to smell it on an evening when I'm roaming about outside."

June 21st...

"So as it turns out when it comes to gardening, a little more order and a little less chaos wouldn't go amiss!

My raised bed is full to bursting and having gone down the chaos route I'm not entirely sure what a lot of it actually is! I have been thinning the herd a bit tonight and pulled out what is possibly a white radish or maybe a mooli?

Either way there seems to be a lot of it and the smaller seedlings appear to be dying, so have ruthlessly culled a couple in order to let the others thrive (something your Mindful Gardening book taught me!) 

I have found a lovely website which has a really helpful section called 'things that can be planted this month', so having purchased a small plant-store worth of seeds I have spent tonight in the sunshine planting those up.  The greenhouse is currently full of labeled seedlings 🌱🌱🌱 

My purple peas appear to be coming along nicely enough and luckily for me are easily identifiable. I have already tested one or two for science purposes and can confirm they taste delicious!  xx "

July 

"The garden turned into a little bit of a disaster if I'm honest. My purple peas were successful (and delicious) but I (of course!) didn't take any photos because I just kept eating them straight off the vine 

The rest I'm afraid was a failure, none of my Mooli grew beyond an inch before going to seed, the pak choi was fairly leafless and leggy, all but one of my courgettes died etc.  I regrouped, decided to strip the the garden bed back and start again.

Found a wonderful website that tells me what seeds to plant in which month and started off a few of their suggestions.  I was just about ready to plant out when we were hit by a storm and my greenhouse was blown down, destroying a lot of my seedlings   I do have to say Miss Tilly (my lovely dog) very much enjoyed helping to clean up my pea shoots!

The few seedlings I have managed to save have been added to the bed in a more organised and spaced out way this time. I've got the surviving pea shoots Tilly didn't eat, some sweetcorn, garlic, beetroot and onion in the big bed and have started off some containers with lettuce and other things. I shall of course keep you informed of the progress of those.  In the meantime the sunflowers finally have buds and I may actually grow a sunflower this year. This is of course unless the slugs discover the two plants they've not destroyed yet!

I've added lemon grass, curry leaves and a small bay tree to my herb collection. My pear tree is doing its best to actually grow fruit, I have the start of a teeny tiny cucumber and my one surviving courgette plant has produced 1 whole courgette!  So there have been a few success stories mixed in as well

Overall there's been a lot of lessons learned so far this year which I will hopefully take forward with me to improve next year's gardening adventures and of course things are still growing this year so I'm sure my garden will be handing out a few more of those lessons before the end of the growing season.

Mainly I just enjoy being out there and seeing what happens.  If some of it happens to work then great, the rest I just count as a lesson learned and add it to the compost pile to try again next time xx"

"As it turns out after digging around my cucumber plants appear to have been hiding a few fruits from me, not sure if they are actually meant to be curly but it was a pleasant surprise "

"Cleaning out the garden shed and trying to organise it, spotted this on my fig tree.  I doubt it will make it to full fruit this far north, but it's very impressive that it's trying x"

October 

"Found some pea stragglers, tested a sweetcorn which is not quite ready yet, pulled some of the beetroot some more successful that others, so have left the ones that don't look ready yet to grow a little longer x "

MARCH 2026

"So, I'm incredibly late to the garden this year.  Finally got some time to get outside today.   Have put some seeds in the greenhouse in the hope that as it's been so late to dry this far north, it's not too late to start things off.   My fig tree now has buds of fruit on so moving it into a better pot doesn't seem to have done it any harm (yey!).  The bulbs you sent last year are happily poking through and as you can see i have some flowers 🌺🌼🌺

The overly ambitious planter has a few things in there that are basically self-seeded from last year, but have added a few more seeds to the mix today as well as those in the greenhouse, in the hopes that at least some of them succeed 🤞 Taking a break for now as I want some tea, but am feeling rather accomplished ☕️  You forget just how much you enjoy being outside in early spring.   My next step will be to plant some potatoes I think...  I bought some anya potato sets to try 🥔🥔🥔   But that's a tomorrow job x"  Kay

More updates coming soon!  Watch this space 🌱